My take on why Lil Rick should either receive a knighthood or Honorary Doctorate in Arts for his contribution to local performance culture:
1) he is the most consistent local, solo, soca artist of the past almost 20 years. Even his bad songs are good. He had no band boosting him so I said what I said...he’s the man.
2) he is a cross-generation personality aka everyone loves him. My mother is in her 50s and is fully aware of when he’s on the radio even now.
3) he is very authentic and true to himself. He has never pretended to be anyone else and this continuously gives him the edge for being the go-to for corporate endorsements.
4) he’s the only one to represent or do jingles for almost all alcoholic beverages sold in the country . From Guiness to Mackesson to Hairoun (which I didn’t know still existed).
5) his success hasn’t appeared to change his personality. Many of these young entertainers reap minuscule success and then are heard among drama more than anything else.
6) he has been a leader in promoting self-image and self-awareness. This is proven by his multitude of nicknames: Chihuahua Businessman, Hypa Dawg, Boardface, Ugly Dog. These names tell a story of a man that knows his truth and lets his listeners know it’s ok to know theirs.
7) his craft has not faltered with his success. When he first came in, he had to break barriers due to misconceptions about what it meant to be a dancehall performer. However, his work forced naysayers to welcome him into the arena and he has only gotten better as a performer and is still one of the hypest DJs. He was doing bashment soca before it was ever even termed that.
8 ) Hard Wuk (this is a combination of his first two big tracks for me...Hard Wine and Ruff Wuk). If you didn’t wukkup to those in the dancehall at primary school or the fair, you didn’t go to school.
9) he’s a family man. He used his success to introduce his clan into the world of performing. And what is parenting if you’re not making your children’s path easier than yours was?
10) he’s the only person I know to have lost a job at one radio station and have another job within hours at another radio station

I can go on but you get the point. When we talk about greats when all facts are considered, this man has to be up there.